If It's Not Just Too Late
by CrimsonHazelEyes
Summary: After the Graduation, everyone went to their own separate ways. Natsume left and came back after 3 years. What will happen? Will he able to find Mikan? Or is it too late? RxR NatsumeMikan4ever


Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic and I decided to revise it :) But be ready to prepare tissues if you're an emotional one XD

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gakuen Alice**

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_If you love someone, tell them because hearts are often broken by words left unspoken_.

* * *

**Graduation Day **

It was finally the graduation day of our favorite class. After all of the hardships, happy, sad and sorrowful days they've been through together, the day they would achieve their freedom finally came. They were now eighteen years old.

During all these years, our beautiful brunette, Mikan Sakura, became closer to our fire caster, Natsume Hyuuga. Although sometimes they couldn't stand each other, and every day they will just bicker and yell, the others knew that they secretly loved each other. But no one dared to confess, much to their class and friends' dismay. On the other hand, their friends already paired up into couples. Hotaru Imai and Ruka Nogi became a couple during their second year in high school, despite of their opposite personalities. Anna Umenomiya and Kitsuneme also became a couple and same goes to Nonoko Ogasawara and Yuu Tobita. But it was definitely unbelievable that Sumire Shouda, the president of Natsume-Ruka Fanclub, had got over her attraction to these teens she always admired, and was finally going out with Kokoro Yome. This class also became closer together and the most famous one in High school Division.

Everyone was sad, all of them had gloomy faces because they were going to separate but they also tried to cheer up and enjoy their last moments together. They were in a huge room where the Graduation Party was being held.

A certain raven-haired boy was deeply in thoughts that he didn't realize that his best friend was calling him.

"Natsume…," a worried Ruka called out to him but when he didn't respond or even look at him, he poked his forehead. And that was when Natsume finally broke from his thoughts.

"Hn," Natsume responded.

"What were you thinking?" Ruka asked but he thought that maybe Natsume was just thinking about a certain auburn-haired girl. "You'll miss Mikan-chan, right?" Ruka asked in a teasing tone but a bit of seriousness in it. He knew that Natsume loved Mikan, so much.

"Hell no! Why would I?" Natsume quickly replied.

"Yeah, right! Look man, why don't you just tell her tonight?" Ruka asked. He was wondering how did his best friend became satisfied with just their usual bickering, not bothering to confess to her and ask her out instead of burning her admirers.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused but failed because Ruka knew him well.

"Don't 'what' me, dude! Tell her, it's now or never ya' know."

"Hn."

"Think about it. It's the last day and you will regret that you didn't do it," Ruka told him with a concern tone. He sighed because of his best friend's stubbornness.

Then he walked away and he asked Hotaru, Mikan's best friend and his girlfriend, to dance.

Meanwhile, a brunette from several tables away from Natsume, was too occupied with her own thoughts and after a few moments of thinking and debating with herself, she stood up. She took deep breaths and walked to Natsume's direction.

"Natsume," she called out. Natsume looked up to see Mikan standing by his side.

_"Of course I'll miss her,"_ he thought. This girl with soft light brown locks that were free from her usual annoying pigtails, her big, bright, and beautiful hazel orbs that he couldn't refuse to stare at, her slim body that he always hug to comfort her, and her personality; cheerful, friendly, warm, clumsy and dense, all of that…he would never forget those. He loved all of it. He loved her. But he couldn't say it, yet.

"What is it, polka?" he asked without any emotions.

A vein popped on Mikan's head but she let it slip this time. She was thinking why Natsume couldn't even say her name and why he was always teasing her. Her almost furious face washed away when she remembered what she was going to do.

"I want… to talk to you…," Mikan said shyly. She was playing with her fingers, avoiding an eye contact with him. There were tints of red that creeping to her cheeks.

"Then what is it?" he asked her with an impatient tone. Though he was wondering in the inside what was she going to tell him.

"C-can we t-talk a-alone at Sa-Sakura Tree?" she stuttered. She was looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing that could be scene at the moment.

"Hn," he replied and stood up. He began to walk outside and Mikan followed him until they reached the Sakura Tree. It was the place that they usually hanged out together since they were elementary. The place that held so many memories that they would never forget, even though they were now going to be freed from the Alice Academy. This tree held so many promises, and had witnessed all of the wonderful things among with Mikan, Natsume, and with their other friends. It was spring and that was why it was on full bloom. The cool breeze made the Sakura petals sway and fall gently on the ground. The scenery was breath taking with the stars shining above the sky.

"Time sure passed in a quick pace, don't you think?" Mikan mentioned, leaning on the Sakura Tree while admiring its beauty.

"Hn, is that what you're all going to say? Strawberry-print?" Natsume teased. She let it slide again because she was nervous to what she was going to tell him.

After a few moments of silence, Mikan stared straight at Natsume's crimson orbs.

"We've been through a lot together, ne? I thought at first, you're just going to be in your own corner like an emo, trying to hide all your pain. It's good to know that we're going to pass the gates of the academy because I wouldn't be worrying about your life span type of alice. We are not also going to use our alices. But I'm grateful for this following my best friend here in Academy because," she gave him a big smile as she continued, "because I met you."

Natsume didn't expected that. He stood there still as she continued on what she was saying. The fire caster was absorbing carefully on what she was telling him because it might be the last time that he was going to see her. But what shocked him the most was her next words.

"Natsume, I treated you like my close and best friend even though we quarrel a lot. But now that we're going to graduate and maybe... not see each other anymore, I wanna tell you what's my own feelings for you." She drew inhaled as she looked tenderly at Natsume.

"I love you." Mikan said in a soft tone. Natsume looked shocked and he was a bit of confused now. His eyes widened a bit then came back to normal and hid it behind his raven locks.

"Don't worry, you don't need to answer that-," she was cut off by him.

"Mikan," Natsume called her name. Mikan looked a bit surprised because he rarely called her name and those times were when he's serious. She looked up to see his eyes staring at hers. He then continued, "I can't return your feelings." _"Not yet, Mikan,"_ he continued on his own thoughts. But Mikan was able to hear his thoughts because she accidentally activated her mind-reading alice.

A tear rolled down on Mikan's face. She was a bit hopeful of what she heard in his thoughts but she was sad that they couldn't be together for now. she didn't know if she was even going to meet him again, or maybe they might find another person to love. But she wanted to do was wait. She tried to smile even a bit, a sad one and it made Natsume feel guilty.

"Thank you Natsume, for being my friend and don't worry it is okay. I'm fine," her voice trembled and she gulped the lump on her throat.

She finally managed to run to her dormitory and locked herself in her room while big, porcelain tears continued to stroll down on her face. Even though she was a bit of hopeful, she still couldn't get over the fact that she couldn't stay at Natsume's side. She was clutching her chest like her heart just got stabbed a million of times. She thought that she didn't deserve him. She would never forget his raven locks, his tantalizing crimson orbs, their bickering, and his way to show his concern to someone. Mikan grasped a red alice stone around her neck as she mumbled in muffled voice, "Natsume."

_"I'm sorry Mikan. I love you so much but I can't tell you just yet. I have to go to far away from here and leave you. So if I answered your feelings towards to me, in the future you're just gonna have to wait for me. So instead of wasting your time like that, use it to move on, find the right guy for you and forget me, even if it pains me a lot," _Natsume thought while a tear rolled down on his cheeks. He hid it behind his bangs but another tear rolled down again, another tear after another. He clutched an orange alice stone dangling on his neck as he whispered her name, "Mikan."

* * *

**The day after…**

"Mikan-chan we will miss you," Nonoko and Anna hugged Mikan.

"Me too, I'll miss you so much," Mikan said. She was still in a gloomy mode after her rejection last night and this whole goodbye were making her more down. She broke the hug and ran to Sumire.

"Permy, I'll miss you too," Mikan sobbed.

"As much as I hate to admit, but I'll miss you the most," Sumire said, trying not to cry but when she hugged Mikan, she lost it and end up bawling her eyes out. They both became close to each other since in their middle school so no one could actually blame her if she was this depressed considering that she was going to be separated from her first true friend here in Alice Academy.

Ruka approached Natsume, he wanted to ask him about Mikan if he already confessed but they way the two were acting, their relationship seemed to be more distant.

"We'll keep in touch, okay?" Ruka said to him while patting his back.

"Yeah," Natsume replied with a pat on Ruka's shoulder.

When Ruka saw Mikan approaching, he walked away and waved to Natsume. Mikan stopped in front of Natsume and smiled her usual bright smile but with a bit of sadness in her hazel eyes.

"Natsume," she called out, "I hope… we see each other again some time," even if she was smiling, her eyes couldn't betray her feelings. All emotions swirled inside her and she was trying to hold back her tears.

"Hn," he replied as if he didn't care. But like Mikan, he was also trying to avoid something, and it was to hug her and to say the words he was trying hard not to blurt out.

_"Mikan, I'm sorry. I love you. And I'll miss you… Polka..," _Natsume thought.

* * *

~O~O~O~ ▼▼▼▼▼ ~O~ O~O~ ▼▼▼▼▼ ~O~O~O~ ▼▼▼▼▼ ~O~O~O~ ▼▼▼▼▼ ~O~O~O~ ▼▼▼▼▼ ~O~O~O~ ▼▼▼▼▼ ~O~O~O~

**After 3 years…**

Natsume was already the CEO of the Hyuuga Corp, one of the leading companies in the world. He was 21 years old now and grew more mature, in and out.

After the graduation, he was busy managing the company and his father was only relying on him because Aoi, his sister, was attending college as a fashion designer. One thing that bothered him the most was he didn't had any communication from any of his friends since 2 years ago.

He was currently sitting in his office, holding a red, velvet box with a golden ring inside. The ring had a crimson gem at the middle of the heart-shaped diamond.

_"I wish I could see Mikan. I'm going to ask for forgiveness and marry her if she still has feelings for me. I'll do anything to make her happy," _Natsume thought while unconsciously curving his lips upwards.

* * *

**Nogi Mansion…**

_Ding Dong… Ding Dong…_

A blond descended the stairs and came to get the door. Their maids were on vacation this week so he and his wife were the only ones living there for a while. He twisted the knob and shock was his first reaction when he saw who was standing in front of him. But soon, that shock was replaced with a swirling hatred and sympathy in his eyes.

"Ruka," the raven-haired man called out.

"What are you doing here, Natsume?" Ruka asked but his tone was unbelievably mad like he was gonna shut the door on his face. And Natsume couldn't help but feel surprised at the first expression that his best friend have him.

"Why? Can't I barge in to your house?" Natsume asked, keeping his cool.

"After you cut all your connections from us?" Ruka snapped.

"What! You guys were the ones who stopped calling me and not to mention, you didn't even bother to pick up your damn phones!" he told him with an annoyed tone.

"We called you for days but no one dared to answer! And not to mention too, it's a freakin' damn emergency!" Ruka shouted.

"Maybe because my phone was broken and that was a busy year for me since I was going to be the CEO of the company that I didn't even had time to buy a new phone. And when the time I had free time, the first thing I did was to call you but no one answered and no one returned the call! I was locked up in my work office, hoping that I could get my family's business back and to enroll my sister to a decent college. I worked hard so I can get back here fast and to see... to see all of you." Natsume's tone was furious at first but it became soft as he began mentioning about what he had experienced in his life in another country.

"Wha...What..?," Ruka's eyes widened and regret filled in it. It was then brimmed with tears, sad and sympathetic crystal tears as he tried to rub them.

"Wai-Wha-What? Why are you crying?" Natsume panicked. He didn't understand why his best friend became too emotional with just piece of their useless fights. It wasn't like they ddn't have connections for so many years, it was just 2 years.

Ruka took deep, shaky breathes and ushered Natsume in. They walked to their living room and Ruka sat down on one of the longest sofa.

"Hey! It's not like we-," Natsume started but cut off.

"You should have found a way to answer one of our calls _that_ day," Ruka said in a very sad tone. Natsume opened his mouth to say something but Ruka continued, "But what we can do now? It's… too late," he whispered the last two words that Natsume didn't caught.

"What?" Natsume asked. He was worried about his best friend's behavior. Ruka tried to change the subject.

"Umm… How are you, man? Why are you here anyways? I mean, you have a business to take care of, right? But I'm happy to see you again," Ruka said with a smile that didn't reached his eyes.

"My father is going to run the business for a few months because I decided to take a break. And I also came here to ask for forgiveness," Natsume replied in a quiet voice. Ruka didn't quite sure if he was talking about his friends and him.

"And marry her," he continued. With that, Ruka froze and he was now sure who was he talking about and after a few moments of silence, Ruka's tears were pouring down on his face. His heart clenched at the painful memories that he had seen 2 years ago. He wondered how everything could just ended so badly that it left a scar to everyone's heart. His companion, on the opposite side of the room, was getting all panicky but damned amused because it wasn't everyday that he would see his best friend getting all sissy. If only he knew.

"You… can't be serious right? You… didn't… co-confessed to her last Graduation D-Day," Ruka managed to say but in shaky voice.

"I know… I did that because if I answered her feelings, knowing her, she would just wait for me until I came back. So instead of wasting her time for that, she should be happy and find the right guy for her," Natsume said. Ruka was still frozen there but listening to him. "And after 3 years being away from her, I've made a decision and I finally managed to come here and ask for her forgiveness for breaking her heart before. And I want to propose to her, I want to marry her... if she still feel the same for me."

"Mikan… still loves you. She said that… she's going to… wait for you," Ruka said while tears were escaping freely from his eyes. The statement brought Natsume's hopes high but crashed at what Ruka's words next. "But it's…it's too late." Ruka closed his eyes and exhaled. Natsume got worried and he had a very, very bad feeling about this.

* * *

_**::Flashback~2 years ago::**_

"_Hi! Anna-chan, Nonoko-chan, Permy and Hotaru," a brunette was waving frantically to her best friends. She just arrived at Hotaru's mansion. They were having a reunion with all of their old friends and classmates during their high school days in Alice Academy. But the most shocking thing was Hotaru actually agreed for her mansion to be the place where their reunion was going to be held.  
_

"_Mikan-chan!" Nonoko, Anna and Permy tackled Mikan to a bear hug. After a few seconds, they broke their hug. Mikan stood up and ran to her oh-so-beloved bestfriend._

"_Hotaruuuuuu," Mikan cried and tried to hug her, only to be hit by the baka gun._

_Baka! Baka! Baka!_

"_I already let you hug me during the Graduation Day. Don't abuse my kindness," Hotaru said nonchalantly. Their friends just sweat dropped._

_And like usual, back to their old days in Alice Academy, Yuu, being a kind best friend of Mikan, helped her stand up. The gang was there, Ruka, Yuu, Koko, Kitsuneme, Hotaru, Anna, Sumire, Nonoko, and Mikan. Even their senpais were there, Misaki and Tsubasa. Only Natsume wasn't._

_After chatting to each other, eating, dancing, playing Playstation, they decided to go home coz' it was getting late. It was already 4 am in the morning. Ruka tried to convince them to just sleep over but Mikan, Nonoko, and Yuu have work so they couldn't. Ruka decided to drive them home and they agreed._

"_I really had a great time, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan said enthusiastically._

"_Yeah, me too!" Nonoko soon joined their mini-conversation._

"_Do you miss him?" Ruka suddenly asked. Mikan knew who was he talking about. She looked at the window as a gentle smile appeared on her face.  
_

"_Who will not?" Mikan said in a affectionate tone without any hesitation and continued, "You know, I'm sad that he was not here but I understand it. Because I still love him and I decided long, long, long time ago that I would still be waiting for him even if takes ten, twenty, or even fifty years." Her heart swelled just on the thought of it, where she could see her own self in a chair with gray hair and wrinkled face, and Natsume... he was there by her side, stroking her hand and murmuring soothing words to her. Even if it seemed impossible, because of Natsume's character, it never failed to bring up a smile on her face.  
_

"_I do wish he come back sooner, Mikan-chan. Maybe he's still busy because we can't contact him earlier," Nonoko said in a sad tone but she quickly tried to cheer Mikan up._

_After a few more random chatting, Mikan, Nonoko, Yuu fell asleep. Ruka glanced at Mikan and couldn't help but tugged his lips upwards at the girl's perseverance and faithfulness towards his best friend. Natsume sure became more and more busy each passing day that he couldn't even pick up his phone to even say 'hi'._

_The streets that he passed by were empty-looking except from the garbage collector trucks and a car, or a two. He waited for the traffic light to beam green so he could turn right on Nonoko's street. And when it did, the most unexpected thing had tumbled upon them._

_A ten-wheeler truck had crashed on them as Ruka tried to swivel the wheel to opposite direction. He knew they only have 10% chance to cross the other side without getting horribly injured, but the 90% happened. When they crashed on the truck, Mkan woke up and when she saw her surroundings circling around her, it dawned to her that the car was tumbling backwards. She could only whispered one name as she saw nothing but red and black. _

_"Natsume."_

_The car was thrown upside down and the truck that had hit them came across to a tree. Blood was oozing out from Mikan's forehead and her heart was thumping out loud that she thought anybody could hear it. Ruka was just several inches away from her, unconscious. Slowly, she also lost her grip on her consciousness as flashes of images, memories of a certain black cat had appeared before her. _

_"Natsume."_

_

* * *

**Imai Mansion…**_

"Why do I have a feeling that something wrong is goin' on?" _Hotaru thought, becoming worried all of a sudden. Uneasiness was churning in her stomach as her hands started to get clammy and cold.  
_

"_Idiot! Don't eat all of the cookies," Anna scolded Koko, slapping his hand away from the bowl of home-baked chocolate chips cookies.  
_

"_Ow! No one will gonn-" koko was cut off by Hotaru's weird ringing tone. She picked it up from the center table and answered it.  
_

"_Hello," she said monotonously.  
_

"_Are you… Hotaru Imai?" asked of the person on the other line, tone was anxious and shaky.  
_

"_Yes. And who the heck is-," she was cut off and she was quite annoyed because of that action that the person on the other line had took.  
_

"_You've got to come at St. Louise Hospital. Quick. Now. Ruka Nogi along with 3 passengers got in a car accident."_

_With that, she dropped the phone and for her ears, it made a loud bang like what the news had affected her. Her eyes were widened as tears quickly poured down from them. She clamped her mouth to stop crying but she broke down. Her friends came dashing towards her as they asked what was wrong with her.  
_

"_Hotaru-chan, what's wrong?" Anna asked, deadly worried because it was rare to see that Hotaru a.k.a. the Ice Queen showed so many emotions._

"_We have to go to the hospital!" Hotaru quickly responded._

_They didn't ask her because they knew that they would find out what was the problem once they get there but they were worried and panicking when they heard the hospital. Hotaru drove the car in a dangerous speed but they didn't dare to complain when they saw Hotaru's worried expression. When they reached the hospital, they quickly went to Emergency Room. They asked Hotaru what were they doing in here and she explained to them what happened with so much difficulty. When they heard that, they look horrified. The girls started crying and the boys were trying to calm them down._

_After a few hours of waiting, the doctor came out from the room. Hotaru and the others quickly went up to him._

"_Are my friends alright? What's their condition?" Hotaru asked quickly._

"_They… barely made it alive," the doctor's voice was sad._

"_No… wha-what d-does s-sup-posed to m-mean?" Anna asked in a shaky voice._

"_Actually they're not in a good condition but a girl with a navy blue hair and a guy with light brown hair, Nonoko Ogasawara and Yuu Tobita, managed to survive," the doctor paused. The looks of the listeners were scared, panicked, sad, hurt and shocked that they broke down crying. They were happy that two of their friends were alive but Mikan and Ruka's names weren't mentioned. Even the guys were sobbing, some were trying not to lose their cool but few tears had escaped from their eyes._

"_The other two… their lives are on the line. They're fighting between life and death. They are… in comatose," the doctor continued. Hotaru crouched down, leaning on the wall for support. Her best friend and her fiancé were not in a good condition and she didn't know how to take it. She was in hysterics and maybe on the verge of insanity; she couldn't see her future without these two most important people in her life and she would never accept it._

_ Sumire on the other hand, was frozen with tears escaping from her eyes, she didn't want to believe what she just heard. Mikan was her first true friend. She would not accept this, Mikan was too good to be in this situation. Koko and Kitsuneme hugged and supported their girlfriends while Tsubasa sat on the chair and stared at the ceiling with a blank face. After attempting to restore his composure which led to failure, his bawled fists were shaking badly and Misaki was just rubbing his back for comfort. Mikan was his little kohai and he treated her like his sister, and it was so heart-wrenching to know that she was on the brink of losing her life.  
_

_After a few moments of silence, Tsubasa went out and greeted the autumn cold air. He got his phone out and started punching number.  
_

_Ring… ring… ring…_

"_Sorry, but the number you dialed-," Tsubasa shut his phone hard._

"_What the hell! Why is he not answering the phone? Stupid Natsume!" Tsubasa yelled. He was clenching his fist and it came in contact with one of the Sakura tree which was now looked lifeless without its petals. He then slid down the tree as he grabbed a fistful of his midnight blue hair and gripped it in frustration.  
_

_**A week later…**_

_Nonoko and Yuu were quickly recovering and Ruka finally woke up. Everyone was so glad especially Hotaru because her fiancé was alive. But there was still a disappointment in everyone's hearts because their other best friend wasn't waking up yet. But they still hoped she would open her eyes soon to greet them with that dazzling smile of hers and reassuring words that she was okay and everything would be alright.  
_

_Everyone was in Ruka's room, Nonoko and Yuu who could walk now but not without their braces on their legs.  
_

"_Why don't we call Natsume?" Ruka asked. Everyone froze and became mad._

"_Why would we? We called him for how many times? Hundreds? Maybe more than that," Tsubasa growled._

"_He didn't even dare to pick up the damn phone of him! I'm going to murder that bloody bastard once I saw him!" Hotaru threatened. Her voice was menacingly cold._

"_Maybe… he's busy?" Ruka tried to give a reason._

"_Busy my ass! If he still cares for Mikan and you, he should have found a way to answer our calls," Anna said while glaring at the window._

"_If he's contented with his life there without us then… we should cut off all our connection we had with him like what he did…" Hotaru said with bloody fury in her amethyst eyes.  
_

_**After 3 weeks…**_

_Mikan was still lying there, not waking up nor having hints when she was gonna wake up._

"_I have to talk to you," the doctor said in a serious tone. The gang looked up and they went out from Mikan's room and gathered in front of the door where the doctor was standing with a serious face._

"_What is it, doc?" Anna asked, worried._

"_I don't think… your friend is going to wake up," the doctor said with hesitancy in his tone._

"_What?" Hotaru asked, shocked._

"_There's a big chance that your friend… will die… She's having an internal bleeding in her brain and we tried to take care of that because it's better as soon as possible. But the patient's hold to her dear life, isn't that strong and we fear that we couldn't do anything because the accident had damaged a big portion of her body. I suggest that we should let her go and pull the plug," the doctor said. He pitied the girl for having a situation like this._

_Hotaru and the other girls cried and the guys were shocked. They were thinking why did Mikan had to die this early, she was their light and the only one who pulled them from their darkness…like an angel. They knew Mikan should go so she wouldn't have to suffer anymore. If they didn't let her go, they would just also going to suffer because of pretending… thinking that everything was alright which they knew was… too far from reality._

"_I agree," Hotaru said. Her voice was hoarse. She knew that it was the best thing and it was the only thing that she could do now._

_"We can't do anything about it, do we?" Tsubasa asked in a soft, upset voice. _

"_Ok then. You're going to bid your goodbyes. I'm giving you your moment now," the doctor said sadly. He bowed and smiled apogetically._

_They entered the room, where Mikan was lying there peacefully. She looked like an angel that had no worries. Tsubasa was staring at the ceiling to prevent crying while Misaki was clutching Tsubasa's shirt and crying her eyes out. It was the same with Nonoko, Anna and Sumire while Koko, Kitsuneme, and Yuu, were holding them, quietly sobbing._

_Hotaru was hugging Mikan while Ruka comforted her. _"Mikan-chan, thank you for always being there for us, for Natsume. If you only know how much he loves you, so much that it aches. I know that feeling because of you; you showed me how to love. I thank you for that. Thanks a lot Mikan-chan and we know that you're watching us wherever we are,"_ Ruka silently thought and prayed for Mikan._

"_Mikan, why do… you have to go? I always thought that you're the one who's gonna live long because I know… that you're strong… and I believe that no one can defeat you… now even that bastard Hyuuga…I regret acting cold towards you… I should let you hug me every minute… but who am I kidding? It's too late…but always remember you're my best friend," Hotaru said in a soft tone while tears strolling down on her face._

_Hotaru moved the bangs of Mikan that covering her angelic face. They could see now the tears of their best friend. They just couldn't see those beautiful hazel orbs of hers because she was never going to open her eye lids. Now, they knew that she could hear them, they were all ready to go and let Mikan cross the other side. They looked at Mikan one last time before heading towards the door. Hotaru released her hug from Mikan and Ruka squeezed her hands before they also walked to the door. Tsubasa was already holding the door knob but stopped all of a sudden. And everyone stopped and frozen on the spot where they were standing._

_**Beeeepp… beeeeeeeeppppppp…. beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppppppppp...  
**_

_Mikan's heart had stopped beating._

_**::End of Flashback::**_

_**

* * *

**_

Ruka told Natsume what happened then continued what he was saying earlier. "It's too late Natsume… Mikan… had already passed away," he was trying hard not to cry again but kept on losing his cool.

Natsume started to cry quietly. His fists were clenched and his lips were trembling. His chest started to ache with so much emotion bubbling inside that would lead him in exploding soon. His supposed-to-be an engagement ring for Mikan was now lying on the floor, forgotten.

He couldn't believe this. He felt so broken and lifeless now. He felt like shit and a bastard for being so damned stubborn that he let his chance go when he already had it in his grasp. He was blaming himself for acting so stubborn. He was blaming himself because he chose his job than seeing her that day. He was blaming himself for not telling her what he wanted to say a long time ago. That he loved her, very much.

Hot and painful tears came rolling down on his cheeks. His chest hurt like hell like it was going to burst out soon. If it was not just too late, he would ask for her forgiveness and marry her. If it was not just too late, he would make it up to her, the time that he was not there when he was supposed to be by her side. If it was not too late, they were going to be building a happy and strong family. If it was not just too late, he would make her as the most happiest woman on earth.

If it was not just too late…

* * *

I'm so sorry if it's not a happy ending... but we need some sad fanfic for a while, ne? That's my first story and the one that led me on writing more and more stories here in this website ;)

I hope you like it :D


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